PART 2

“Sorry, sorry darling. I can explain,” I rush. I wish I had thought this through just a bit more. I really should have admitted to my plan and warned the her from fifteen years ago to expect me. Too late now though.

She jumps to grab some sheets to cover herself and only then do I realize that the man she is with is not me! I guess I’ve really screwed up these last years. At least now I’ll have the chance to fix it. All of these thoughts race through my brain before anybody speaks another word. The man lays in the bed in complete shock, mouth open wide.

“Nate?!?” my (ex?) wife cries out. “Oh my God! I haven’t laid eyes on you in fifteen years! Where have you been? Why are you here now?” As she speaks, her expression changes from one of shock to one of anger. She picks up a pillow and chucks it at my head.

“You disappeared on me! I was pregnant and you just disappeared. And now you have the nerve to show up all of these years later and just waltz right into my house?!” Her emotions are cycling rapidly and by the last words she is nearly sobbing. The man laying next to her has not yet closed his mouth.

“I- I- WHAT?!?” I manage to get out. “That’s all wrong. I would never do that. I’m so excited to be a dad. I just- I came to see how I was doing and pick up a few pointers. I-“

“You show up after fifteen years to see how you’re doing?!? You haven’t been a dad at all. I’ve only had stories to tell Junior about you. I grieved you. Just get OUT before I call the cops!” She breaks down in a downpour of tears, no longer able to contain it.

I fall to my knees on the carpet, the devastation beginning to kick in. “I don’t understand,” I whisper. “Please, please just tell me the last time you saw me.” I have to figure out why I left, so I can make sure it never happens in my new future. This is not at all what I expected to find. How could I have done this to her?

She is still so beautiful even after all of these years. I can tell she is struggling to pull herself together and the dim wit next to her is doing nothing to comfort her. He just continues to stare slack-jawed at me.

When she has controlled her tears enough to speak, she begins in a soft and distant voice. “I still remember it like it was yesterday. You acted so normal that morning. Maybe a little extra cheery, and maybe that was a sign. When I got back from my morning walk you were just… gone. You left some crappy old video game running and that was that. I figured…. It was all too much for you. I know how scared you were to become a father. I thought you just left.” The tears begin again.

Something that she said registers in my brain. I look up from my position on the floor, unable to rise from my knees. “Some…some video game?” My eyes go wide. “No… No it can’t be… NOOOO!” I roar, feeling it reverberate through the room. “You turned it off. You turned it off, didn’t you?!!” I scream. Her eyes are wide with fear now, and she clutches her blanket closer to her.

I frantically scramble to my feet and pull out the remote meant to take me back to the safety of my home and pregnant wife, instead of this nightmare. I mash the button hard, and then harder. Nothing happens.

“NOOOOO!” I sob again. Just like that, all of my dreams are destroyed. I should never have tried to pull a fast one on the universe. I wanted to be the best dad possible, but instead I ended up being the worst.

Behind me, the door suddenly slams open, hitting into the wall. A young man with a head of floppy brown hair stands in the doorway, obviously petrified but trying to put on a brave face.

“Mom, are you alright? I heard yelling.” He freezes when he spots me, standing at the foot of the bed with the useless remote grasped in my hand.

“Dad?”